The Toys That Made Us
The Toys That Made Us is a four episode per season documentary series produced by Netflix, and aired as one of its "original series". Starting in 2017, the focus of the series are the histories of toy brands that have made a significant impact on the awareness of customers, collectors and fans, as well as on pop culture in general. Each approximately forty-five minute episode deals with a specific brand. Apart from toy brands proper, such as Lego, Barbie or G.I. Joe, toylines (not necessarily produced by one manufacturer only) based on popular media franchises, like Transformers and Star Trek, are also dealt with, and of which that of Star Wars with a reported US$14 billion worldwide turnover as of 2017, is arguably right from the start the all-time most succesfull one in financial terms, having become the second most important pillar of the entire franchise after the live-action productions themselves. (see also: main article) Aired on 22 December 2017, "Star Wars" was actually the first episode that started off the seies. "Star Trek" Star Trek became the focus of the similarly titled first episode of season 2, aired on 25 May 2018. The history of the toy element of the ''Star Trek'' franchise is followed chronologically through the companies Remco, AMT, Mego, Ertl Company, Galoob, Playmates Toys, Art Asylum and McFarlane Toys. While Star Trek had a ten year head start on Star Wars, the documentary, paraphrasing Captain Kirk, details how the franchise "kept missing the target" for almost four decades, by making decisions that demonstrated – neither the first nor the last time – a persistent lack of understanding of the fanbase, only aggravated by questionable decision making by the toymakers themselves in the early decades, AMT being the exception. This has all resulted in the Star Trek toy franchise never even coming close to that of Star Wars, to which it is continuously compared to throughout the documentary, albeit in a humorous manner. A multitude of interviewees is featured throughout the documentary to elaborate on the subject matter, ranging from toymakers themselves through collectors, some of them scientists and former Star Trek production staff, most conspicuously fan extraordinair Doug Drexler. The documentary ends with the conclusion that of all the Star Trek toys ever made, it had always been the various incarnations of the starship models – perceived as the real star of Star Trek – that have mostly captured the imagination of generations of Star Trek fans. Credits *Interviewees in order of identification: **Rod Roddenberry – Son of Gene Roddenberry **Doug Drexler – Special & Visual Effects Artist **Gene Roddenberry (archive footage) **Russell Meyers – Collector **Gene Winfield – Automotive Designer **Steve Dymszo – Co-founder of Master Replicas **Karl Tate – Collector **Steven Kelly – Author & Collector **Maria Jose Tenuto – Sociology Professor & Collector **John and Bjo Trimble – Fans **Mark Bellomo – Author **John Tenuto – Sociology Professor & Collector **Chris Byrne &ndsh; Toy Expert **Marty Abrams – President of Mego, 1971-1983 **Ian Roumain – Director of 50 Years of Star Trek **Marc Pevers – Former VP of Licensing, 20th Century Fox **David Galoob – Former CEO of Galoob Toys **Steve Varner – Sculptor Playmates Toys **Karl Aaronian – Senior VP of Marketing at Playmates Toys **Manny Jesus – Former Senior Art Director at Art Asylum **Nelson Asensio – Former Lead designer at Art Asylum **Zach Oat – Diamond Select Toys **Patrick Pigott – Sculptor Diamond Select Toys **Todd McFarlane – McFarlane Toys **David Vonner – Toy Designer *Production: **Donald Ian Black – Narrator **Tom Stern – Director, Executive Producer **Benjamin J. Frost – Writer, Executive Producer, Lead Editor **Anne Carkeet – Executive Producer **Neil Fellah – Line Producer **Michael Greggs – Producer **Robin M. Henry – Co-executive Producer **Cisco Henson – Executive Producer **Brian Volk-Weiss – Executive Producer **James Anderson – Co-editor External links * ** – Star Trek episode page * Category:Documentaries